A quiet frozen day today. It's was a balmy 16 when I got up today, better than the 4 of yesterday morning. This has turned out to be one of the most peaceful and pleasant Thanksgivings I've had. The food was great, two of the 9 year old grandgirls made desserts, a pumpkin pie, and a pecan pie, plus the pumpkin cheesecake their mother made. I am truly impressed, I can tell you I was making no pies at age 9. I had a couple of nice glasses of wine too.

My eldest son got the day off after all and my grandgirl Julia and I drove over and picked him up driving slowly through the white, quiet frozen day. We made a stop back at home because my socks had gotten wet, wrong shoes for crossing the snow. I am so out of practice. Put on my dry woolie ones, my polka dotted knee high rubber boots, and tossed in my slippers for house wear and we were off again. No football fans here, lots of conversation.

Eldest son is off to work today, and the rest of the guys are going to bundle up for a day of steelhead fishing. We women are meeting again today for lunch to plan gift buying for the six young granddaughters. No shopping today, ugh! We combine ideas and money to get them what they might like. This year we've added a young single mom with three kids under 5. Coats are big on this list. We got them through one of the social service organizations. The thought of people with no coats in this weather is painful. Good time to pass on our no longer used decent coats and sleeping bags too.

May your day be filled with blessings.

Making Gravy

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

I used to collect all sorts of dishware until I started paring down quite a bit. I kept a few pieces of vintage Bauer pottery including this gravy boat. It's going to be pressed into service again after many, many years. I'm cooking up some edibles for those of us with diabetes and concluded that the thing I would miss most is gravy and found this recipe which I tweaked and cooked up this morning. It tastes really good. Yippee.

Since the turkey is at someone else's home there are no pan juices to defat so I used about 3 oz. of chopped leftover chicken, one finely chopped celery stick, and 1/2 cup finely chopped Walla Walla Sweet onions for making a base. I sprayed Pam in a non-stick fry pan, browned the chicken, celery, and onion until the onion was browned. Then I added a cup of water, pepper, and made a stock and let it reduce for an hour or so over a low heat. Nothing exotic. Then I added the four cups of turkey broth and let it simmer. I finished off a small portion to taste test and loved it. Tomorrow I will strain all the chunks out and blend with the cornstarch and water right before I travel the six blocks to dinner. I don't think anyone will know its a reduced calorie and carb conconction.

Prep Time: 5 minutes; Servings: 16; Difficulty Level: low

Ingredients
1/4 Cup cornstarch
1/4 Cup water
4 Cups TURKEY BROTH and defatted pan juices (see below)
Salt and pepper

Directions
In a large saucepan, over medium heat, bring turkey broth and pan juices to a boil.
Meanwhile, blend until smooth the cornstarch and water.
Whisking constantly, slowly add the cornstarch mixture and continue stirring until the gravy is thickened.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Provides 16 servings at 1/4 cup per portion
Note: To defat pan juices, pour poultry drippings into a glass measuring cup and refrigerate until the fat solidifies. Remove the fat layer and discard.

Nutritional Information (Per 1/4 cup serving)
Calories: 12
Protein: 1 g
Sodium: 10 mg
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Carbohydrates: 2 g

First Snow and Thanksgiving

It was 27 and white when I got up this morning. It isn't exactly a blizzard and for that I'm thankful for that. One son lives on a farm and slogs down to the critters every morning to feed and get them water that isn't frozen; the other has an hour commute each way to his workplace, so this is plenty for us. I meant to get this sedum (I think) into the ground some time ago but I forgot about it until this morning when I stuck my head out the backdoor for a look about. And the lawn furniture is still sitting out. I have a list of things I was going to finish yesterday. For whatever reason, I decided it was a fine day to nap and read, and overeat, and nap some more. Sooner or later I will dress in my winter coat and go brush the fairly dry snow off the van and head for the grocery store. I did shop yesterday but left part of the list at home, the one with ingredients on it rather than the usual bread, eggs, and milk. My brain was traveling in bookish places rather than around my kitchen.

I'm working on making diabetic tolerant accoutrements for the big family dinner a few blocks away. Could be a big dinner, and we certainly are a big family. I found a recipe for low fat, low carb gravy that tastes good. Ditto for a dessert, a Waldorf salad, and I'm bringing a big green salad as well. Some of the guests have troubling high blood sugar. It's hard to eat tiny amounts of the regular stuff, avoid bread and stuffing and not feel deprived, hopefully this will help and no one will go into a coma later. Maybe it's time for a post meal walk as well.

Meanwhile I'm grateful for the love of my family and friends. Very grateful those in the family who lost their jobs have new ones, three people ending a very long stretch of unemployment. I'm grateful for the smiling faces and the hugs of my grandkids and my grown children. We are housed, fed, and dressed. I am thankful for Medicare. And also, I'm grateful I lost about 30 pounds over the last year or so and because of that my feet don't hurt any longer.

Our Cars

After posting about older drivers I got to wondering if my Kia minivan will be my last car. I found myself thinking about my own driving career and my first car. I got my learner's permit at the age of 16. Dad taught me to drive, he was the calmest teacher. Mom was a driver but riding with learners behind the wheel was not her forte, and she screamed, nothing helpful, just in fear. I refused to go take the driver's test until I was 20 and in college. I had a little test phobia which a couple of years in college cured. My folks thought they would have to battle me for the car, we only had one. Instead they began to think I not only I would never get a license but maybe they would never get me out of the house either. Late bloomer.

When I graduated my Mom handed over some savings bonds my grandmother had bought for me when I was born. I cashed them in and off I went to the car lots. I bought a 1955 Oldsmobile 88, 10 years old. One with a 324 V8 and, I think, a Rochester 4 GC Quadra-Jet carburetor. It actually got around 19 mpg on the highway. My sister asked me why young women and teenage boys bought the same cars. I suspect in my world of the 50's and early 60's boys would pick their own car but a girl in my kind of family not be allowed to have a car like that. She'd have to be older and working and I was. I knew nothing about the power in it, the specs were given me later by my boyfriend and soon to-be-brother-in-law who owned a '56 much like it. Oh, it was fun to drive!

I was not clever or wise in my purchase. I just liked the way it looked and it fit my tiny car budget, no car payments. I discovered at the ripe old age of 22 that I could lay rubber with it on the highway. And gas was was 20 cents a gallon then although the Olds actually got about 19 mpg on the highway. I got my own apartment. Ha, ha, parents, fooled you. When my boyfriend went 250 miles away with his summer job I went to visit him driving from Seattle through Eastern Washington as fast as I could, windows rolled down, long hair knotting madly in the wind, I'm free, I'm free!

Towards the end of that summer on a trip home disaster struck, smoke began pouring out the tailpipe. Black smoke, as Bill the Cat would say, "ackk!" I left with assurances from my boyfriend who loaded the trunk with gallons of oil and water, and more from my Dad by phone, that if I took it easy and refilled oil and water at intervals I'd make it home. I did. Ah, the optimism of the young. My baby had to go into the garage and I had to borrow money from my parents to bail it out. It cost as much to rebuild as the car had to buy. And, I now had the equivalent of car payments as I paid my folks back every month for what seemed like forever. It was a good repair job though and I had the Olds until 1971 when I sold it after 7 years to pay for things for the baby my hubbie and I were expecting in the fall. The guy who bought it loved it as much as I did. It was turning into a classic.

Last time I wandered out to look at one for sale the seller wanted $22,000 for it, same colors red and white and in great shape. Heck that wasn't much more than the minivan cost, and certainly had that tank like safety factor going for it. I could get all my granddaughters into with some new seatbelt installations. Sigh. Now I see me driving it up the Columbia Gorge to Portland, and getting my first ever speeding ticket.

The Snowman Cometh

We got a spot of chilly sunshine today and the whole neighborhood seems to be engaged in raking leaves out into the street. This arty shot is my neighbor's dappled yard. We are officially under a "winter watch" until next Tuesday which means probably snow and freezing temperatures. Maybe that's good, I could use a day off from insulating faucets, trying to fit foam creations over the basement vents, and wrapping things for the winter. Got a lot done though.
Happy pre-turkey day y'all.

Aging Drivers

I just read Maggie's post at Postcards about her upcoming driver's test and l-empress' response note and her post We took Away His License about her husband's licensectomy. I thought, how timely, as yesterday while trolling through the TV stations with the remote I was stopped by a panel discussion on C-SPAN by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), titled Safety, Mobility, and Aging.

Usually those CSPAN things are big snoozers for me but this was interesting. The Panel Chair: Deborah Bruce, PhD, NTSB Subject Areas and Participants: Trends and Limitations in Safety Data – Anne McCartt, PhD, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety; Travel Patterns – Sandra Rosenbloom, PhD, University of Arizona; The Effects of Aging – Bonnie Dobbs, PhD, University of Alberta; Fragility and Crash Involvement – Ann Dellinger, PhD, MPH, Centers for Disease Control. It's a two day affair and will be on here today as well.

Safety, Mobility, and Aging. Hope this link works, I've just discovered how use the link button. It's a 2 hour clip so be warned.

They are of course pounding away at the high rate of crashes by the elderly, which they defined as 70 or maybe 65. They haven't decided as someone mentioned that 70 is the new 60. In spite of the insurance companies desire to put us in the same pool as 16 year olds, Anne McCartt related that the accident rates for older drivers have actually dropped in the last two years. Dr. Rosenbloom stated the thinking is that older drivers are healthier, drive better, especially women who are retiring with a lifetime of driving experience unlike their mothers, or grandmothers, and have different travel patterns than earlier generations, more heavy traffic, cars with screaming kids, long distances in traffice, and are therefore more experienced. One of the better safety rates is with older commerical drivers for the same reasons. It sounds like the way to keep driving safely is to keep driving. Rack up those miles.

Dr. Rosenbloom also suggested that the problem is not aging per se but those who age with cognitive impairment, that the solution is not raising insurance rates but screening for cognitive decline, and removing those persons from the driving pool. Dr. Bonnie Dobbs (Alberta, Canada) stated that they have developed a screening tool that has been implemented in the medical community in British Columbia for screening. The onus is on the doctor to screen and report. If if goes well in BC they hope to see it implemented across Canada. Here is a link to a state by state report of licensing renewal provisions for older drivers.


Dr. Dellinger answered a question about "who the older driver is" by saying everyone over 65 as elder drivers no longer works, "it could be 70 and even 75." She thinks so much has changed particularly with baby boomers in terms of health and extensive driving experience that old thinking no longer works and that there is "no right answer." She also mentioned that the older drivers' rate of fatal wrecks isnot due so much to the severity of the wreck but to the fragility of the person involved. What would heal at 40 might kill you at 80.


Some other interesting comments for me were that there is a slight uptick in women drivers in the 80-85 range, that women tend to self-retire from driving earlier than men, and that women live about 10 years past their driving career and men about 6 years. The panel seemed to believe that the lack of public and mass transit is a big factor in older drivers continuing to drive at a late age. They mentioned that the lack of transportation is a big contributor to the isolation and decline of elders.


I will miss my vehicle if the day comes I have to stop driving. Right now where I live there is some bus and some Appointment Keeper transportation that comes to the door and delivers you to the doctor, or grocery store and will pick you up. Who knows if the public funds will be there though when we reach the time we need those services? Meanwhile, exercise those driving skills.

You'll Never Take Me Alive

Saturday I woke up with chest pains, again, a reprise of something that had been randomly going on for over a week. This time it really hurt. Maybe it's not indigestion or asthma!? All week, I'd been gobbling aspirin, tums, eating little, drinking pedialyte and nibbling bananas thinking perhaps I was dehydrated or had low potassium. I check my peak flow find that the asthma is pretty much as it always is. My pulse is fast (of course, now that I've scared myself) but it also is skipping beats and rattling around. Whaaat? Then I think "If I die from a heart attack, they won't let me in the pearly gates for being stupid." So I called my son Dave.

Dave says he is coming after me and to call 911 if anything gets worse. Yup, I was going to drive myself, just what your NOT supposed to do. Then it went through my mind that I'd be embarassed for the neighbors to see me getting carted off in the Medic van, and does that get paid for by my insurance? Where did my common sense go? So I took two aspirin and found a book to take with me. I unlock the door and sit at my computer to distract myself and what comes up? A cartoon of a guy peeping out his mail slot at the grim reaper. He says "You'll never take me alive," and the reaper replies, "OK." Now I'm laughing, how cosmic is that? We are our own worst enemies.

David dropped me off at the ER and went to park the car and I checked in. I got scooted right in and wired up. I wanna go home. Dave comes in and entertains me and the whole ER staff while I'm getting EKG's, nitro glycerin, giving blood samples, and having a chest x-ray. He can be very funny. I have not had a heart attack; I am not having a heart attack! YEA! I may have GERD (Gastric Reflux) and, my blood pressure is low, my temp is 3 degrees below normal, and I have a persistant arrythmia. They hook me up to a heart monitor and check me in for a night of observation. My son Chris comes in and spends the evening with me until I go to bed, well, go to sleep, I am stuck in bed. The MD says my heart looks healthy but they don't know what the arrythmia is. The end result is I am now home on a beta blocker and Prilosec and have to go back to the doctor next week. I also have a bottle of nitro glycerin for pain with instructions to come back if three tries with the nitro doesn't stop it. Actually, not come back, call 911. No driving myself or waiting around.

Here's the warning signs for heart attack, stroke, or cardiac arrest. Call 911, do not pass go, do not collect $200 and don't drive yourself. You may, like myself be lucky, attack free, but the most frequent symptom of heart attack is not pain, it's death. So be grateful if you get some warning and hustle up some help.
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Conditions_UCM_305346_SubHomePage.jsp

I am grateful that it turned out this well. I hope this isn't permanent, and I hope I find out exactly what it is. Excepting occasional emergencies, I've lived well with lifelong asthma, this last year I learned to live with Type II diabetes and have gotten down to half the meds for that and lost about 25 pounds. I may have to learn to live with something else but now I've had some practice. Meanwhile I am so grateful for my children, my two sons and my beautiful daughter-in-law. What is truly beautiful about them all is their hearts and their caring. Love you bunches kiddies.

Morning

Sunday I went to Whitman College to view a tea house ceremony with my oldest son. They were also displaying selected items from the Davis Collection including this lovely screen. It was a most peaceful way to spend a couple of hours.

Patty Murray is ahead as the count goes on here in Washington State, I am so relieved and I was pleasantly surprised to see Harry Reid survived as well. I was hoping I would see much less of John Boehner's tanned face on the news but there he was even if it was an old view. As others have mentioned I think I will cut back my news intake for awhile.

PLEASE VOTE EVERYONE

Tomorrow is the big day. My stomach is reminding me daily that I am concerned about the outcome. I don't recall hearing so much ignorant bombast in my life. I mailed my ballot in as soon as I got it. I'm pretty sure all my family did the same. My thanks to all you bloggers who are more informed than I and have shared with us, I often post your blog links on my facebook and send it to people on my email list. Nice to have people like Ronni Bennett http://www.timegoesby.net/, and Rain http://rainydaythings.blogspot.com/, and many others who write so eloquently and thoughtfully.

I've done a couple of things I haven't done in long, long, time, signed petitions, particularly concerning Social Security which should never be privatized or done away with, and one pitching for Medicare for everyone; I've started contributing money to the Democrats, attending fund raisers, and going to rallys; arguing with our not so honorable opponents at their little tables in front of grocery stores, I didn't intend to, I just couldn't be totally silent anymore. I haven't picketed anyone in probably 15-20 years, the last time on behalf of farmworkers. We have voices and I don't know about you, I haven't been using mine for awhile. Meanwhile I'm off to get somemore Tums.